Three-in-One

After a great day at the lake with Cécile and Jamie yesterday and, consequently, a long day in the sun, I was looking forward to enjoying a little of the cool morning air when I got out for a run today. With not a lot save for the weekly goal in mind and the knowledge that I’ll be turning in two sessions tomorrow, I planned to knock over about 15km and get myself home again to start another day of vacation with the family.

With about half an hour less to run compared to yesterday, I was in no real hurry to get out the door. I was up at 5am as normal but I didn’t really start pulling on running clothes until 5:30am and I wasn’t getting started until about 5:45am.

And when I say ‘started’ I mean the first of what I could only describe as three runs in one.

I started off at a reasonable clip and headed down towards Mulatiere. I was keeping things nice and steady and trying not to burn off too much energy while still keeping the tempo up. After a few runs where I have taken it nice and slow and turned in 5:15 and 5:30 splits – and felt great doing it – I wanted to lift things up a little bit. These first five kilometers represent the first part of the run and I was turning over my legs at about 4:45 pace.

Come the 5.5km turn around at the Confluence Museum, however, and I was ready to take a break. I walked for a couple of hundred meters to catch my breath and climbed the side of the Museum to see where it went as I’ll be heading back there in a couple of hours with the family and Jamie would love to explore it, I’m sure. Then, with my breath back, I started on the next run – the second 5K – and headed past the Confluence mall, along the Soane, and then to Bellecour. Splits along this section were a little slower but basically came out at 4:55 – not bad, and pretty consistent.

At Bellecour I was not feeling great and I thought briefly about turning it in with a 10K under my belt. Thought of the upcoming 50 miler, though, pushed through and I decided to complete the 15K I had planned from the start by throwing in a loop down to the Croix Rousse tunnel.

This final 5K – the third of the runs, really – I knocked over with an average pace of 4:55 again. Not bad considering how I was feeling and, of course, getting the planned distance in when I could have been quitting 25 minutes before felt damn good, too. Included in that 4:55 average was a 4:37 kilometer down the Rue de Republique, the fastest of the morning and proof that if there are a couple of people watching from bus stops and the music in the headphones is just right, I can still turn in a respectable kilometer even at the end of a forgettable morning.

So, three runs in one: a 4:45 pace 5K, a 4:55 pace 5K, and a final 4:55 pace 5K with a flash penultimate kilometer. Not bad for a run that otherwise felt pretty flat and uninspired, right?